Forests

With 80 per cent of the planet's ancient forests already lost or degraded, the need for increased protection of the world's remaining forests is more urgent than ever. Forests help stabilize the climate, sustain life, provide jobs, and are the source of culture for many Indigenous communities. Greenpeace opposes destructive and unsustainable development in the remaining ancient forests in Canada and globally. To effect positive change and put lasting solutions in place, we challenge the global marketplace, engage consumers, pressure governments and work with industry to protect the Boreal Forest, the Great Bear Rainforest and the Indonesian rainforest.

Stretching from coast to coast, the Boreal forest is one of the largest tracts of ancient forest in the world, encompassing more than half of Canada's landmass. It is a diverse and awe-inspiring landscape of granite outcrops, lakes, rivers and marshes, interspersed with pine, spruce, aspen and poplar forests. It is home to hundreds of First Nations and other communities, as well as threatened iconic species such as woodland caribou and wolverine.

The Great Bear rainforest represents one quarter of the world's remaining coastal temperate rainforest. It stretches along the mainland coast of British Columbia to the Alaska border and covers an area the size of Switzerland. The Great Bear rainforest is home to the rare white Spirit Bear, salmon streams and dozens of First Nations communities. Once wholly threatened with large-scale industrial logging, Greenpeace continues to work to ensure that the 2006 and 2009 Great Bear Rainforest Agreements are implemented for the rainforest's long-term protection.

Greenpeace campaigns to prevent the reckless destruction of Indonesia's remaining rainforests. We are doing so to protect endangered wildlife like the Sumatran tiger and orangutan, to support forest communities, and to stop greenhouse gas emissions from deforestation. One of the leading drivers of this forest destruction is Asia Pacific Resources International Limited (APRIL).

British Columbia’s Clayoquot Sound is an ecological treasure of regional, national and global significance. Its mountains, valleys and islands represent Vancouver Island’s largest intact ancient rainforest. Home to 45 known endangered, threatened and vulnerable animal species, Clayoquot’s forests are an invaluable haven for wildlife. In the early 1990s, Greenpeace joined fellow environmental groups, the region’s First Nations and the public to protect the intact old-growth rainforests of Clayoquot Sound from logging. However, despite increased protection, many of these ecologically intact areas remain unprotected and are still vulnerable to logging today.

The latest updates

For most of the last year our team has been investigating and documenting gross acts of environmental destruction in Indonesia’s last remaining forests. What these investigations reveal is a story of one massive, faceless company with...

Not only are woodland caribou in serious trouble due to habitat loss, but biologists at Penn State University are sounding the alarm bell over arctic caribou populations, affected by climate change. Because of warmer springs, plants...

On 23 May, Greenpeace was served a $7 million lawsuit by logging giant Resolute Forest Products. We believe this is a Strategic Lawsuit Against Public Participation (SLAPP) . This type of lawsuit burdens Greenpeace with massive...

Over 140 groups, including environmental organizations, unions and freedom of expression advocates, are calling on the Ontario legislature to adopt strong legislation to prevent Strategic Lawsuits Against Public Participation (SLAPPs) from being...

News today is that the Quebec government which owns the vast public forests of province, which sets the laws and regulations, which oversees how businesses operates, which sets the rules... is having a difficult time talking to ...